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Originally Posted by Matchlock
... The gold was in the form of coins, more than 2,000 in total, mainly Spanish excelentes bearing the likenesses of the monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella, but also some Venetian, Moorish, French and other coinage....
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Other coinage is in fact Portuguese coins, as per the original texts, something which is more than obvious, once the ship was Portuguese. Actually the coin shown in the (Amy Toensing) picture above is a silver "tostão" of the King Dom João III realm.This is a very important detail, once the mintage of these coins had started in 1525, having all units been withdrawn from circulation in 1538, to be molten and not put back to use, for the presence of these coins in such good condition is a strong evidence that this ship was launched to sea during this 13 years interval.
Also the Spanish gold "excelentes", which represent 70% of the gold coins present in the wreck, are a vital detail for history, as it didn't occur to archeologists that the Spanish investors, as it appears, had a great contribution to this Portuguese expedition, such an unusual fact.